SQL 2017 Always-On AG Pt. 5: Node B SQL Installation

This is the fifth installment of the SQL 2017 AAG series, where we do an unattended install of SQL on node B. We will use a modified configuration INI file that was generated from the node A installation. This reduces human error and makes your installs repeatable. With the use of gMSAs, it makes the unattended a bit easier since we don't have to supply passwords for the service accounts. If you are using "normal" AD service accounts two command line switches are needed to supply the proper credentials.

Unattended SQL 2017 Installation

1. Create a folder on the second SQL server and copy the ConfigurationFile.INI from node A to the this folder on node B. I used C:\SQL.

2. Open your favorite editor and change the specified parameters to the new values in the images below. The QUIET and UIMODE parameters should be commented out, as shown.

3. Mount the SQL 2017 Enterprise Edition ISO to the second SQL server. Open an elevated command prompt and change directory to the root of the SQL ISO. Enter the following command:

setup /configurationfile=c:\SQL\ConfigurationFile.ini /iacceptsqlserverlicenseterms

Note: If you are not using gMSAs, you will need two switches to supply the credentials for the service accounts:

/SQLSVCPASSWORD="YourPassword"
/AGTSVCPASSWORD="YourPassword"

4. Wait a few minutes for the installation to complete. After the install has completed, you can list the services running on the server and validate that SQL is using the proper gMSA service accounts.

5. We aren't quite done yet, as you have to now install the SQL management tools just as we did on node A. Launch the SQL installer from the ISO, click on the SQL management tools link and download/install as you did before.

6. After the SQL tools have been installed, launch the SQL Server Management Studio and ensure you can login to the SQL server. If you have login issues, reboot the VM and try again.

Summary

Using the SQL 2017 unattended installation is very straight forward. Only a few parameters needed to be changed from the INI that the installer creates. Next up in Part 6 we will configure Windows clustering.